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PASADENA >> There are ways to suffer through New Year’s Eve camped out on Colorado Boulevard in anticipation of the annual Rose Parade.

And there are ways to suffer less.

Take Robin Andersen, 61, of Lancaster. The woman and her family have camped out at the intersection of Colorado and Oak Knoll Avenue for about five years. The spot outside Target is an ideal one. Andersen’s group, which includes her brother and his family, have free WiFi from Target, access to Starbucks and permission to use the department store’s more private restrooms until 9 p.m.

“When I was little — because my birthday is on New Year’s Day — my mother told me this parade is for my birthday,” Andersen said. “Of course I believed her, so it’s been a birthday tradition.”

Thanks to Tim Hansen’s experience, the Hansen family, from Ventura, always sits along the North side of the Colorado Boulevard sidewalk because his family could see the “back side” of the Rose Parade. Cameras are placed on the South side of the street.

The older Hansen said camping out is always an adventure. He remembered when his friend saved a man’s life.

As a neighboring man slept in his sleeping bag, some of it rolled onto a barbecue. The bag began to smolder. The friend removed the sleeping bag from danger, woke the man up and said, “I just saved your life.”

Aside from the shaving cream, tortilla and marshmallow madness around midnight, Tim Hansen said he enjoys sitting in the sun and watching the pre-parade show: the “old cars and the old people.”

“Happy New Year, sir,” he bellowed to an ancient Ford fire truck with a wooden ladder hanging on its right side. “Does that thing have a siren? Let’s hear it!”

The siren screamed; he cheered.

“The pre-parade is just as fun as the parade,” the elder Hansen said. “These guys are coming out with all of their old cars. They want to be seen obviously or else they’ll leave it in the garage.”

Then as a series of old Volkswagen Beetles drove by, Tim Hansen delivered a series of punches to his son’s right arm. Both smiled.

Their sun-kissed faces will be sunburnt tomorrow, as they usually are on New Year’s Day. But both said the parade is worth any kind of hardship.

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The Rose Parade is so good that the family goes home to watch the other side of the New Years Day extravaganza. Although the crowd’s energy isn’t there, they said it’s good to hear the commentary about the floats.

Every year, there are hiccups, and Tuesday was no exception. Around noon, the family had an altercation with a man hoping to score seating in an area Hansen and Anderson had chalked off.

“Some people just get hostile,” Marquez said. “(Chalk is) not a city ordinance. It’s first-come, first-serve at noon, which is posted on the city website. It doesn’t say you can claim acres with chalk.”

Nonetheless, it was the same story along several blocks of Colorado Boulevard.

At precisely noon, campers along the street quickly moved their chairs, tables, board games and umbrellas away from the sides of buildings and put them close to the street, oftentimes within the limits of chalk or masking tape.

As soon as Marquez moved his chairs streetside, he walked around the block to his home. Four of his nephews will reserve the group’s spot Tuesday night as he sleeps in the comfort of his home.

In similar fashion, Hansen will spend the night in his RV with his wife. His teenage sons, however, will brave the night cold.

“My dad doesn’t let me (sleep in the RV) because I’m a young kid,” said Franklin Hansen, 16. “I could sleep in the cold. It builds character. I don’t mind. It’s fun to sleep out in the gutter and be homeless for the day.”